The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1887-04-14
TURKISH FUNERAL RITES.
DEATH AND BURIAL IN THE OTTO
MAN EMPIRE.

SprtnkItng the Corpse WIN hot wa
ter-Carricd to the Grave-Turk-
ish Cemeteries and Tombs.
Emile Julliard, in his article on 'Life
Beneath the Crescent" in the Cosmopoli-
tan, says
If Turk dies, or looks as if he were
dead, no physician, no inspector, comes
to make sure that death has really taken
place; but if it has not, the fact will soon
be established, thanks to procedure
more efficient than all the gentle and re-
fined means in vogue in the West to make
sure that the deceased is not hoaxing his
heirs.
Scarcely has the last breath been taken
when the corpse is lifted up violently by
vigorous arms, the clothing snatched off,
laid on the flag-stones of the mortuary
chamber or vestibulc, and besprinkled
with hot water, which is thrown upon it
by the imam, provided with large pail
The sprinkling is repeated two or three
times, so that the family runs little dan
ger of seeing the deceased resuscitated.
Thus scalded as preliminary step, the
body is washed and dried. Then it is be-
powdered with camphor, and after being
covered with a cloth embroidered with
verses from the Koran, it is exposed for
several hours in the courtyard. After
wards the imam returns, and accompanies
the corpse to its last resting place.
The fiat, covered bier is usually carried
on the shoulders of friends of the
deceased, or upon those of hired pail
bearers. Sometimes strangers assume
this duty gratuitously, looking upon it
as a pious and meritorious act. The
cortege is made up only of those that carry
the coffin by turns, thus relieving one
another without stopping. The coffin
is made of cedar, and it is seldom
vanished, but it is covered with rug or
shawl, and there is placed at the head a
turban or a fez, if the deceased is amale.
The procession always moves hastily,
not for the purpose of getting rid of the
dismal burden, but to hasten the moment
when deceased shall enjoy eternal repose;
for the Mussulman believes that the soul
is restless and unhappy as long as the
corpse is unburied. This is why three or
four hours only elapse between death and
burial.
On arriving at the cemetery, the imam
so places the bier that the face of the de-
ceased is turned toward Mecca; he then
approaches the brink of the grave and ut
tiers very long prayer, the conclusion of
which is as follows: "Draw near, Noun
kir and Nekir, angels of death and min
listers of Allah. Great and blessed God,
we humbly beseech thee to make the earth
light for thy servant. May he find grace
and mercy with thee. Amen" A Chris
tian's prayer does not say anything more
nor any better.
According to the Koran, the deceased
is the owner of his grave in perpetuity,
and the Objectionable system of sepulture
| in rotation is unknown to the mussul-
mans; and in Constantinople, in Eyoub,
and in Scutari, the room occupied by
cemeteries is almost as extensive as that
covered by dwellings. Within recent
years it has been found necessary, in Or
der to open roads that have been much
needed, to curtail and even suppress some
of the cemeteries; but it required an ex-
press order from the Sultan, which made
The ulemas utter the wall of bigots.
The cypress is prominently the flu
neral tree. Each tomb has to have its
own. And Turkish cemeteries become
gloomy forests in time, which impart to
certain Oriental lanscapes an aspect singu-
larly stiff and sombcr. 1t is upon the
sea-shore that these funeral forests are
found in the greatest abundance, the
trees, being nourished by the soil fertil.
lied by human remains, reach prodigi.
Gus size and height. The largest and
most celebrated of these cemeteries is
that of Scutari, upon the Asiatic coast Of
the Bosphorus; it extends over an area
more than six miles square.
The tombstones are in the shape of ar
oval wider at the top than the bottom
and 'surmounted with turban or fez
the form of which, varying greatly, indi
Gates the rank of the deceased. A gilt
inscription in Turkish characters, cut If
relief on a blue background, gives the
name and enumerates the virtues of the
deceased, and implores divine mercy III
his behalf. These stones are sometime!
perpendicular, sometimes leaning very
much. In the latter case hole is dug al
the base of the tomb, intended to catcf
rain for the little birds that come tt
quench their thirst.
The dead are not buried very deep, anc
it is strange that the custom does no
cause more sickness than it does A
large proportion of the epidemics of dys
EMERY and typhoid fever that invade thu
low quarters of Constantinople can b.
traced to this custom. The proximity o
the cadavers to the top of the grount
produces, during the summer night, par
ticularly in swampy and damp cemeter
les, myriad of phosphorescent lights
lights, which dance and fit around tn
tombs; and these myriad sparks of fire
while inspiring the poets, also brighter
children.